RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Knox County >> Tekoa >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Tekoa, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Tekoa and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Tekoa:
    • 35.987859, -84.041856
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Tekoa
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Knox County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Knox County
    • Since Tekoa is near Anderson County and also Blount County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Anderson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blount County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Tekoa

Communities Also Named Tekoa ...

We found two communities that are also named Tekoa.

Within Tennessee, the name Tekoa is unique.

Beyond Tennessee, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Monroe County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Tekoa [Monroe County].
    • Washington
      • Whitman County
      • This Tekoa is located in Whitman County and lies 1,855 miles [2,985.3 km]<2> to the northwest of the Tekoa that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Whitman County community of Tekoa.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Tekoa ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Camelot
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Camelot is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camelot
  • Cherokee Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Cherokee Ridge is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Ridge
  • Cherrybrook
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Cherrybrook is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherrybrook
  • Countryside
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Countryside is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Countryside
  • Deep Creek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Deep Creek is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep Creek
  • Fair Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Fair Oaks is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Oaks
  • Golden Meadows
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Golden Meadows is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Meadows
  • Grand Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Grand Oaks is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Oaks
  • Heather Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Heather Heights is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heather Heights
  • Hidden Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Hidden Hills is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Hills
  • Holiday Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Holiday Hills is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
  • Landmark
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Landmark is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Landmark
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Meadowbrook
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Meadowbrook is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
    • Pleasant Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Pleasant Hills is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hills
    • Pleasant Ridge
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Pleasant Ridge is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
    • Ridgedale
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Ridgedale is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgedale
    • Shadow Wood
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Shadow Wood is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadow Wood
    • Spanish Trails
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Spanish Trails is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spanish Trails
    • Stonebrook
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Stonebrook is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonebrook
    • Third Creek
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Third Creek is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Third Creek
    • Treeville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Treeville is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Treeville

How Far From Tekoa to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Tekoa to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Tekoa and extending to:

  • Knoxville, which is the Seat of Knox County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 153 miles [246.2 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Tekoa to Nashville, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 433 miles [696.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 25 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,321 miles [10,172.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,031 miles [11,315.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,907 miles [7,897.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Tekoa could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Tekoa) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Tekoa to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Tekoa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.9879, Longitude: -84.0419       In this case, the coordinates for Tekoa have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.117 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.837 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.578 degrees.